UNDERATED for LEGO Ideas: November 2016

Welcome to another edition of UNDERATED for LEGO Ideas, exclusive to SilentMode.tv: the world’s most obscure LEGO fan site. I’m your host, and this is my first post on the site in a long time. It’s also our first UNDERATED post that’s on time for quite a while.

Preamble

I’ve seen quite a few people complaining about how rotten 2016 has been, whether to do with “Brexit”, Trump or something else. I have to admit, my 2016 hasn’t been great either. I’ve often found myself asking what the point of it all is, both in terms of LEGO and non-LEGO. I’ve been able to hold off another “dark age” for the time being.

While it’s actually gotten harder for me to pick Ideas projects to feature, I can sympathise with project owners who experience stagnation. Sometimes it feels like social media activity, or posting regular updates to one’s project, are just a waste of time.

To those project owners going through a slump, I’d encourage you to hang in there if you really believe in your project. It’s easy to say when your neck isn’t on the line, but it’s always better to see things through until the very end. Besides, you’ve already elevated yourself to the top 20% of FOLs in activity, just by having an Ideas project.

This year’s Friends theme has taken on the idea of summer activities, and now it’s time for a minifigure version with the help of this project. I can see this working as part of a dedicated City theme, not least because it looks like one!

The models are centred around the brick-built trees, each of which houses a platform leading to a different activity. It evokes memories of being an innocent child, running around and trying different features – if you were so privileged! This is the kind of playground I wish I had access to when I was younger. I probably wouldn’t be as stocky now if I did.

In any case, I think this would be a great Ideas set, but even better as the start of a dedicated theme. At the moment it has just 129 supporters behind it.

This project is more for fans of Silicon Valley or anything related to IT and technology in general: it’s a vignette of a data centre, complete with server racks that can even be taken out and replaced.

Even if you’re not technologically inclined, this could be a candidate for LEGO Ideas’ next BBM. Who could resist switching out all those network cables, and rearranging the servers in the racks? If I didn’t know any better I’d say there was also a Linux penguin on the table.

It could use refinement, as it uses more parts than are necessary, but I think it would work as a set. Right now there are 94 supporters for this project.

There isn’t much in the way of imagery for this project, but at least we can tell what it’s meant to be. This is another modular building candidate, this time of a residential building modelled after the Bauhaus art school.

I’m biased toward this project as I’ve been a fan of the Bauhaus style since college, but I like the way this building has been put together. Thankfully there are photos of the interior in the Updates tab, which shows that at least some thought has gone into the model.

Personally I’d like to see this (or something like this) as the first LEGO Ideas modular building, but we’ll see what happens. So far 118 supporters seem to agree with me.

That’s all there is for this month. Join us near the end of the year (already!) for our final UNDERATED for LEGO Ideas post for 2016.